Archetypes of Wisdom

The sage archetype, crone archetype and guide archetype are variations on the theme of the wisdom. They are the wisdom archetype embodied in human form. Wisdom is defined as “the soundness of an action or decision with regard to the application of experience, knowledge, and good judgment.” People carrying a wisdom archetype are sensible, shrewd, and down-to-earth.

Within the wisdom archetypes there is a balance between the left-brain rational capacity and the right-brain intuitive talent. In other words, these archetypes help you check in with both your head and your heart. Gut responses are tested against common sense. Action is measured and skillful. Words are not wasted.

Opportunities to learn wisdom are in everything from painful to joyful experiences, there is no distinction. Wisdom can come from a flower or a bush, a great teacher or a grocery store clerk. The wisdom can come in a flash or build over time.

When we are “wise to” something or someone we are alert and aware. The wisdom archetypes carry an awareness beyond the present moment. These archetypes empower you to objectively review the past and project outcomes. With one of these archetypes, the power of the sacred, is taken more seriously than what is apparent to the five senses. This person understands that there is more than meets the eye. What is happening now is the consequence of a vast number of preceding choices and invisible forces.

Divine Channels

Acting in the light aspect of a wisdom archetype makes you a messenger for the divine. Someone with the guide, crone, or sage archetype is a channel for divine guidance and does not take this responsibility lightly. Friends, loved ones, and clients benefit from the stellar advice of a wisdom archetype. If you have one of these archetypes, you are likely the person that helps others pause in the midst of chaos and truly consider the outcome of their actions.

This does not mean that you are the “fixer” or the “problem solver”. With the wisdom archetypes, there is no place for solutions. That is not your job. The job is to guide someone through the chaos of the ego and into the order of the soul. This is not about weighing all the options and definitely not about having any of the answers. It is about asking the right questions, listening, and offering cosmic truths to accompany people on their voyage.

The Spiritual Teacher

The guide, crone and sage archetype are spiritual teachers. They impart knowledge about the nature of the cosmos, the mystical laws, and universal truths. As much a leader as a companion and follower, the spiritual teacher takes on whichever role best suits their pupil’s evolution. Sometimes comedian, other times authoritarian, the spiritual teacher is willing to give up other people liking her.

Any ego driven needs to for admiration, recognition, etc. block the flow of divine guidance. The spiritual teacher’s ongoing inner work is to clear out these base cravings. The spiritual teacher is different than the teacher because she accepts the call to know the spiritual journey as well as to be a clear channel.

Sage Archetype

Traditionally, the sage archetype is seem as the masculine manifestation of the guide archetype, but this is changing. Both women and men can have this archetype. Typically, the sage archetype is associated with age. Elders feel most comfortable calling themselves sages. Many people come into the sage archetype later in life. As the elder, the sage provides advise to family, friends or community.

I think we say too often that young people have an old soul. A young person with the sage archetype has an old soul, but this truth is lost in over use of the term “old soul”. If you were told you have an old soul, this doesn’t mean you have the sage archetype.

Wisdom comes from experience, so how does a young person with very little experience act as the sage? That is one of the hallmark challenges of esteem that plagues a young person with the sage archetype in a deep way. When a young person embarks on the endless pursuit of experience to feel worthy of wisdom, she can lose the aspect of being versus doing that is necessary with the sage archetype.

On the other hand, someone born with the sage archetype has the capacity to bring through the wisdom gathered in past lives or the collective unconscious. That is if they are able to temper the pride that can come with such power. By staying humble and reverent of what they have access to as well as in close contact with their elders, the wisdom of young sages can be extremely transformational in a community.

Crone Archetype & Wise Woman

Another archetype closely associated with seniority, the crone archetype is synonymous with the Wise Woman. As part of the trinity of maiden, mother and crone, this archetype embodies the culmination of feminine wisdom. Images of a small, white-haired, wrinkled and slow moving old lady come to mind with the crone archetype. However, you don’t have to be an old woman to posses this archetype.

According to Clarissa Pinkola Estes in Women Who Run With the Wolves, the crone ideally “symbolizes dignity, mentoring, wisdom, self-knowledge, tradition-hearing, well-defined boundaries, and experience… with a good dose of crabby, long-toothed, straight-talking, flirtatious sass thrown in for good measure.”

Women who carry the crone archetype are likely to seriously and tenderly mentor younger women and to commune with peers in full-bellied, open-hearted displays of humor. The facade of properness falls away for the crone. She’s up front and fails to mince words. In the light, she’s a welcome truth teller, a spirited guiding force. In the shadow, she’s a bitter, dry and critical influence that tears down any display of independence in the women around her.

Guide Archetype

The guide archetype in some ways contains the sage archetype and crone archetype, and she stands alone outside of time and space. For those of you with the guide archetype, there are no concerns over coming of age or earning wisdom. There are no reflections on how much experience or knowledge is enough. There is an inherent trust in the wisdom that flows. All of the elements of wisdom, guidance and teaching discussed at the start of this article apply directly to this archetype.

In the shadow, the guide pursues worldly rewards for her insight and/or becomes over inflated. She takes every word that comes out of her mouth as gospel. She thinks she knows her advisees better than they know themselves. In balance, everyone with the guide archetype learns that she is the person to be wise to. Being alert to herself, the guide is able to be a channel for sacred, life changing guidance.
 

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Clarissa Pinkola Estes teaches about the crone archetype in both of these online classes:
http://www.soundstrue.com/store/the-power-of-the-crone-1355.html
http://www.soundstrue.com/store/the-dangerous-old-woman-641.html

The Many Faces of the Goddess Archetype

A galaxy of archetypes onto herself, the goddess archetype is one of the most profound and overwhelming archetypes to know. She is primary among female archetypes, embodying the divine feminine. She is the powerful, pure essence of what it means to be a woman.

In her gifts, the goddess archetype radiates power and grace. People are drawn to her magnetic presence. She illuminates like the sun and perplexes like the night. She is enigmatic and timeless. There is an intangible aspect to her being that transcends what it means to be human. Her presence lifts us up and holds us captive. Compassion pours from her being. Overall, the goddess archetype channels inspiration, love, appreciation, guidance, protection, nurturance, and fertility.

In her shadow, the goddess archetype can be vengeful, wrathful and righteous. She wrecks immense havoc and destroys without purpose. Her tendency towards jealously brings out an uncharacteristic meanness. The shadow goddess is arrogant, selfish, and inconsiderate. When angered, she develops tunnel vision and becomes overly domineering or resentfully cold. At least that’s how the family and friends of a person expressing the goddess archetype perceive it.

Some women wholeheartedly identify themselves as a goddess. Other women shy away from mere mention of the idea. Even though we’re talking about one of the female archetypes, don’t forget that men can have the goddess archetype too. Given the sheer volume of different goddesses around the world, there are more than enough to match every woman and man.

How to Pick a Goddess Archetype

One of the most important things to know about relating to the goddess archetype is that you have to get specific. The field is too broad, too vast to connect to on a personal basis. My friend Julie Loar wrote a book containing 365 goddesses and she just scratched the surface. There are goddesses for loving and war, marriage and virginity, solitude and socializing, water and fire. If you take them all in at once, it is hard to know which qualities to relate to.

The thing to do is to start with one goddess you most identify with.

Creating a list of the qualities of the goddess archetype that you value most will also help you in your selection process. Sit in contemplation and write a definition of what the goddess means to you. Which of the qualities of sexuality, beauty, love, nurturance, protection, fertility, mystery, or darkness stand out? Now search for a goddess that embodies those qualities.

Next, it helps to choose a pantheon of gods and/or goddesses that fascinates you. There are Greek goddesses, Hindu goddesses, Roman goddesses, Egyptian goddesses, Celtic goddesses, Peruvian goddesses, Tibetan goddesses, Native American goddesses, and on and on. Take some time to look at images of the goddesses of traditions that attract you. Do you love the many arms and wild colors of the Hindu goddesses or the austerity of the desert born Egyptian deities?

Which stories captivate you most? Do you love the depth and detail of life history available for the Greek gods or is the shroud of mystery around the Celtic goddesses more appealing?

Would you rather do away with the many faces and come to the simple One such as Gaia, the Virgin Mary, or Quanyin?

The Goddess Archetype in Context

Also consider the context that each goddess is in. Often a goddess is associated with a specific season like spring or summer, and this season will be one that speaks to you most. Some goddesses are associated with the moon or nighttime, while others with the sun and daytime. The story of the goddess’s life may also strike a cord and be similar to your own in some way.

Many goddesses are accompanied by animal totems such as the Celtic goddess Epona and horses. Does the goddess’s animal companion match your own favorite animal or spirit animal?

Duality of the Goddess Archetype

Even within a single goddess, two conflicting attributes often reside. Examples are the creation and destruction goddesses Kali of Hinduism and Pele of Hawaii. Another example is the Greek goddess Persephone who is known as the mother of death as well as the daughter of spring.

Upon narrowing down your search to one goddess that you’ve decided to explore and merge with, it can be endlessly frustrating to deal with such monumental contradictions. Since the goddess archetype is linked with the divine, paradox is inherent. Learning to work with the polarity within your chosen goddess archetype is a valuable task.

Even with the Virgin Mary, how can she be so humble yet so powerful? Allow the opposites to reside in you.

Archetypes Nested within the Goddess

An immensely revealing aspect of working with the goddess archetype is that she is a container for countless other archetypes. For example, the Greek goddess Hestia (Roman “Vesta”) contains the hermit, virgin, nun, and homemaker. Athena (Roman “Minerva”) contains the warrior, artist, guide, virgin and mentor. The Egyptian goddess Isis holds the mother, magician, advocate, and healer. The Celtic goddess Brigid expresses the poet, artist, healer, and maiden.

Once you familiarize yourself with the mythology and symbolism of a particular goddess, create a list of archetypes she expresses. In learning about those archetypes, discern how you relate to them. As you can see, a whole world opens us below the surface. It is fascinating work that can go on for a lifetime.

Resources About the Goddess Archetype

Here are the books and websites I refer to when researching the different goddess archetypes:

Goddesses in Everywoman by Jean Bolen – Covers important Greek goddesses in great, revealing detail.
Goddesses in Older Women by Jean Bolen – Expands on Greek goddesses and brings in goddesses from other cultures.

Goddesses for Every Day by Julie Loar – A daily catalogue of 365 different goddesses from around the world to broaden your understanding of the prevalence of this archetype.

Buddhist Goddesses of India by Miranda Shaw – A thorough, beautifully researched history of Buddhist goddesses, along with symbolism and depictions.

http://www.goddess-guide.com/ – My go-to guide online of goddesses. This website’s an awesome resource.

How to Walk the Earth as a Goddess by Sharon Rose Washington – Take a special look of the list of goddesses starting on page five. This book covers how to care for yourself as a goddess.

http://www.theoi.com/ – For all things Greek mythology, this is the definitive source of original stories of gods and goddesses.

What is Your Take?

I would love for you to share any resources about the goddess archetype that you’ve found helpful. In addition, please post your questions in the comments below about specific goddesses. Want to know which archetypes are embedded in your chosen manifestation of the goddess? Ask, and I’ll help out!

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The Lover Archetype

The lover archetype is often confused with other archetypes such as the hedonist, the goddesses (especially Aphrodite), the mother, the artist, the caregiver, the fool, and the Don Juan. This makes it difficult to determine if you are under her influence or if you should look elsewhere for insight. The biggest difference between the lover archetype and all other archetypes is her lack of agenda in loving. She seeks love for the sake of love. The lover is intent on having love and knowing love.

Romanticism

In the late 18th Century and first half of the 19th Century, a movement arose throughout the western world called “Romanticism”. In rough terms, the Romantic Period prized beautiful things in art and nature that give rise to emotion. This movement is commonly accepted as a response to the coincidental Age of Enlightenment that held reason and intellect above all else. Enlightenment honored thought, order and structure. Romanticism adored improvisation, intuition and spontaneity. All of these are broad generalizations, of course, but hopefully suffice to give you an idea of what Romanticism was about.

The lover archetype was aflame during the Romantic Era. With her heart open wide, she inspired countless painters, writers, philosophers and poets to abandon themselves to the world by falling deeply in love with it. This love didn’t exclude painful experiences, but embraced all aspects of the intensity of humanity, nature, and spirituality.

The Romantic Period is a reminder that the lover archetype is not just about one-to-one or sexual relationships. The lover archetype intertwines with humanity, the arts, expression, nature, and the cosmos. For her one person or one relationship cannot sum up the whole of loving action.

Falling In and Out of Love

The lover archetype constantly asks herself: “Where can I find love?” “Who or what else is there to love?” “What is in the way of love?” and “How can I feel more love?”

In the initial stages of growth, the lover archetype understands love as desire. It is a passionate mood that comes and goes. The feeling of being in love can feel like chasing a feather in a fickle wind. Just when you come to pick it up off the ground, a strong wind gust whisks it away.

The immature lover defines herself as either being in love or out of love. For her love is a noun, a state, a place. She delights in falling in love. She bemoans and despairs over falling out of love. Emotions run her and she has no control. It is an exhilarating, breath-taking ride. This is reckless abandon, which can be both a gift and a curse. The lover archetype is moody, selfish and melodramatic in the shadow. In the light aspect, the characteristics of a lover are spontaneity, generosity and magnetism.

The Obsessive Lover

The lover archetype in the shadow experiences physical pain when she is apart from the object of her desire. She attempts to create a constant euphoria by possessing the person she loves. When the other person doesn’t immediately reciprocate her feelings she tumbles into anxiety. The shadow lover isn’t in love, she is in limerence. According to Dr. Dorothy Tennov in her book Love and Limerence, limerence is created and sustained by an equal mix of hope and doubt. The fear of rejection is ever present and this fear is what creates the lover’s intense emotions. The undeveloped lover mistakes these highs and lows for love.

To the shadow lover, love is involuntary and she has no choice when she’ll be “love struck” by Cupid’s arrow. Her life is about chasing the “love drunk” feeling that comes when she is with the person she adores. She does everything her beloved does and forgets herself and her own needs. The lover at the heigh of limerence is “love sick”.

In the shadow, the lover archetype becomes the stalker, the helpless one, the overbearing partner, or the control freak. This is  the “anxious attachment” style that Amir Levine, M.D. and Rachel S. F. Heller, M.A talk about in their book Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How it Can Help You Find – And Keep – Love.

The Evolved Lover Archetype

The mature lover archetype enjoys life regardless of if she has a romantic partner or not. She is available to unexpected spontaneous manifestations of love. She knows how to love herself. As she evolves, the lover archetype lets go of her need for love to come from any particular person or romantic interest. This is what the light aspect of the lover archetype looks like.

In her power, the lover archetype gives herself fully over to love. Instead of handing herself off to another person or situation, she abandons herself to the act of being loving. She is ready to receive love in its myriad forms. She releases expectations of what love should look like. The idea that someone only loves you when they buy you flowers is a narrow view of love. The other person doesn’t have to make grand romantic gestures to love you. In fact, the love doesn’t need to be romantic at all. The lover in the light sees any form of love as valid, powerful, and true.

A loving act can be a smile from a stranger or an attentive ear from a friend. The talent of the lover is to know love as a moment of joyful resonance shared between any two people regardless of their history or connection.

Soul Mates

An enduring remnant of the Romantic Age, is that sagas of true love are continually force fed to the masses. The lover archetype infiltrates our psyche. This idea of soul mates is imprinted by cultural conditioning at a young age. We are told that there must be one person in the world that is a perfect match for us. When soul mates find each other, then happily ever after will come. The lover archetype has her way with everyone regardless of whether they swoon or scorn at “true love”. Everyone dialogues with this aspect of human nature.

The lover archetype carries the torch for the ideal of true love, knowing in her heart the inspiration and creativity that blossoms forth from the pursuit of it. At the end of her quest, she finds that true love knows no bounds. It always is and ever will be no matter if she is alone or with others.

True Love

In closing I give you a quote from one of our most beloved romantic comedies, one of the best of the lover archetype examples, The Princess Bride:

“I love you,’ Buttercup said, ‘I have loved you for several hours now, and every second, more. I thought an hour ago that I loved you more than any woman has ever loved a man, but a half hour after that I knew that what I felt before was nothing compared to what I felt then. But ten minutes after that, I understood that my previous love was a puddle compared to the high seas before a storm… 

There is no room in my body for anything but you. My arms love you, my ears adore you, my knees shake with blind affection.

My mind begs you to ask it something so it can obey. Do you want me to follow you for the rest of your days? I will do that. Do you want me to crawl? I will crawl. I will be quiet for you or sing for you, or if you are hungry, let me bring you food, or if you have thirst and nothing will quench it but Arabian wine, I will go to Araby, even though it is across the world, and bring a bottle back for your lunch. Anything there is that I can do for you, I will do for you… darling Westley, adored Westley, sweet perfect Westley, whisper that I have a chance to win your love”

Explore your relationship with the
lover archetype…

The “Lover Archetypes” Online Class

This four-part audio course defines the Lover, Don Juan, and Femme Fatale archetypes. These archetypes are all concerned with affairs of the heart. The Lover shifts from personal to collective to embodied love. The Don Juan shows that the trick to thwarting hypocrisy is being honest and loving. The Femme Fatale confronts abuses of power with the agency of a loving heart.

The Artist Archetype

The artist archetype at the very core is connected, intimately, with the cosmic creative force of the universe. The artist wants nothing but to bring the abstract, intangible idea of beauty into form. This is no small task. It has driven many to madness. Many others have been emancipated by the opportunity to express splendor.

What is in the realm of the unseen and the intangible, becomes able to touch, taste, see, hear and feel with our five senses. Art is miraculous in this way. The artist, in bringing about the miracle, becomes one herself.

Characteristics of an Artist

The artist is an intuitive, sensing archetype that may appear unorganized. The order is present, just not to the senses. She is following some invisible design. The marvel of this design is often only visible once the work of art is complete. Glimmers of it burst through in moments leading up to the unveiling.

The artistic person may have trouble keeping both feet on the earth. This has benefits and consequences. The primary way ungrounded-ness appears is in a fierce, likely unconscious, detachment from time. Just like the child at play loses all track of the hour, so too does the artist. For her five minutes can seem like five hours or five hours can seem like five seconds. The artist archetype understands that creation is in no way tied to the clock. Art happens in the silence between the ticks of the second hand.

For someone without the artist archetype this apparent inability to read a clock or organize thoughts can be very frustrating. Deadlines are missed, projects change direction fifty times, and there is always something that could use a little tweaking. This challenges the artist to develop a healthy self-esteem, not allowing the criticisms of others to deflate her.

Grounded artists find ways to routinely anchor themselves in this world. For many artistic people, there has to be a conscious ritual such as walking, gardening, or even house cleaning. Breaks are essential for the artistic practice. To bring something into this world, a connection has to be maintained with the mundane plane of existence. Inspiration brews and new ideas come. The excellent artist finds inspiration in the world around her, merging heaven and earth.

Avoidance in the Artistic Person

I know many brilliant artists who say they aren’t artists. The benchmark for what it means to be artistically talented is ambiguous and the creative person is usually her own best critic. In the shadow, the artist archetype is plagued by self-doubt and self-deprecation. Never starting or finishing anything, the artistic person falls into depression. Not believing her art is worth anything is a malicious myth that eats her up.

A wonderful support group called A.R.T.S. Anonymous helps those with the artist archetype come out of the shadow and into the light of this powerful archetype. They meet by phone and encourage each other to do a minimum of five minutes of art a day.

These three of the twelve traits of the avoidant artist speak to how well this organization has defined the struggle of the artist archetype:

1. “Self-defeating thoughts and societal myths turn in our heads: ‘Art is not practical’ – ‘Artists are neurotic’ – ‘You’ll starve’ – ‘You have to be trained’ – ‘You are too old’ – ‘It’s too late’—’You are a fraud.’ We have accepted these as true when, in fact, they are not.
2. We have felt intimidated by other artists’ success. Jealousy, envy, fear, self-pity, perfectionism, resentment and other character defects block our faith in our creativity. We do not feel worthy of the success we achieve or desire.
3. We often feel ‘not safe.’ Afraid of becoming a target for criticism, harm, and rejection, we prefer to be invisible.”

Quoted from: http://www.artsanonymous.org/about-arts/arts-traits/

Every archetype has a light and a shadow and the shadow of the artist archetype is the starving artist. The starving artist can waste countless hours fiddling with a piece, never show her work to anyone, give her art away to everyone, charge too little for her artwork, and thus dump her creative life force down the drain.

The true essence of the starving artist is refraining from all creative endeavors, literally starving herself of art. This creates enormous suffering that results in endangerment of her physical health. The artist archetype needs art as much as anyone needs to breath, eat and drink.

Inspiration for the Artist

For the empowered artist, expression goes beyond a single work of art. A canvas covered in paint or a cleverly crafted line of prose will never fully encompass that ultimate work of art that is life. The artist that finds herself free from doubt and shame is able to see the whole of her life as a fantastic masterpiece. Through the artist archetype you engage the infinite power of what it means to truly love your life. When you love your life, you want for nothing, you never go hungry.

The artist archetype does not necessitate that you are the hand that guides the brush. You are as much an artist when you are appreciating any form of beauty because what is art without eyes to behold and revel in it? In that way we all have a little of the artist in us, but to call the artist archetype your own, you’ll need to identify an intense need to participate in the infinite creative process of the universe.

The Different Types of Artists

Some artists specialize in a certain medium such as oil pastel whereas other artists can never seem to settle on any one track – painting with water colors one day and working with a flower press the next. Remember just as there are seemingly infinite mediums, there are countless styles of art – abstract, expressionism, realism, surrealism, pop art, photorealism, minimalism, impressionism, etc.

Before you dismiss your creative endeavors and deny yourself the chance to call yourself an artist, know that artists come in all shapes and sizes. Here is a sample list of the manifestations of the artist archetype – Creative, Craftsperson, Musician, Writer, Painter, Sculptor, Sketch Artist, Potterer, Chef, Herbalist, Gardener, Landscaper, Auto Body Repairman, Woodworker, Singer, Dancer, Seamstress, Cosmetologist, Hairdresser, Fashion Designer, Graphic Designer, Website Designer, Welder, Basketmaker, Knitter, Scrapbooker, Photographer, Quilter, Interior Designer, and more.

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The Rebel Archetype Pushes Back

Revolution is the first stage of transformation. The rebel archetype is the natural archetype to step in and help us break free of the mold. We all need at least a little bit of the rebel. Sometimes we need every ounce of rebel’s power pushing back against the tide of what we’ve made of our lives.

Do you just want out? Have you had enough and do you want it to end already?

The rebel archetype is an opposing force. She needs something to push against. Generally, this opposing force is called the “establishment” or “the man”. Specifically, when under the influence of the rebel archetype, we target workplaces, government institutions, bosses, or loved ones. The rebellion is personal.

Ultimately, the rebel archetype is looking to break out from underneath some controlling force in our lives. We like to put a face to the rebellion. It provides a point of focus. But, we risk tying ourselves down all over again. Resenting the controlling person or institution is a cage all its own. We become obsessed with proving them wrong. We want to smash their petty rules and expose the deception of their false promises. We will stop at nothing short of pure destruction. This pulls us from our center and binds us to an insatiable hunger for the man’s demise.

The need to fight back against an outside controlling force is a necessary first step. Initially, the revolution must be televised. It must be in the visible world and it must gain some momentum through notoriety. Wisdom comes in knowing when to stop lashing out at the man. We have to set down the torch and feel into our own darkness.

The real rebellion is against the expectations we’ve placed on ourselves. When is it time to stop pretending? How do we stop playing by the rules when the rules are playing us? Why does everyone else’s opinion matter?

When are you going to do what you want to do?

The Shadow of the Rebel Archetype

The rebel archetype in the shadow can be pretty darn selfish. From all things balance must flow. Often we are overcome by the rebel archetype when we have been kowtowing to other people’s desires for too long. It is time for the pendulum to swing the other direction. The time for selfishness has come. It is a natural flow, but that doesn’t absolve us from responsibility.

We have to be especially mindful with the rebel archetype that we don’t take this impulse as free license to wreck havoc on other people’s lives. If we aren’t careful, she’ll lay waste to entire landscapes without conscience. She feels completely validated in taking back what is hers at the expense of others.

Who Cares What I Do?

We often call rebellious teenagers irresponsible, but we aren’t willing to admit our own tendency towards irresponsibility. When considering the light aspect of the rebel archetype it is important to explore who, or more so what, you are responsible to. Some of the greatest rebels (Nelson Mandela, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malala Yousafzay, and so on) were and are responsible to a set of values. They upheld virtues such as compassion, tolerance, and non-violence. They believed in a higher ideal generated by the creative force of the universe.

When we are acting from the power of the rebel archetype, we don’t use what we feel responsible to, as an excuse to harm others. We use it as a reason to move forward. Our conscience is an on board, guiding force.

Heck with the Rules

The rebel can’t stand rules. One whiff of a rulebook in the room and she is slamming the door in your face. In addition, she doesn’t think much of structures either – and I’m not talking about buildings. Organizational charts, job descriptions, class outlines, and instruction booklets all drive her to shear insanity. Give up trying to reason with her at this point. No thing can tell her what to do or how to live her life.

We must be mindful that rules and structures have value. A mature rebel understands this. It is only when these things become dogmatic, when they suppress creativity, that they become troublesome. We can always count on the rebel to keep us safe from such danger.

We think we can’t rely on the rebel archetype, but we can. We can trust she’ll get us out of a bind. She’ll break us free from thinking that any rule, structure or person has authority over us. 

The Paradox of Needing to Belong

By her very nature, the rebel is an outcast. She has cast herself out of established norms. Speaking up may have resulted in her being tossed out of society or she may have walked out on her own.

We all have a need to belong and no rebellious urge can supersede that.

Have you noticed that rebels tend to ban together? It is paradoxical that the archetype that drives us to reject the group mind at the same time draws us to find others who think like we do. The riff raff, rag tag group of friends creates family where there was none for someone with the rebel archetype. An added bonus is that we can find pleasure in popularity among the freaks and weirdos. The fame we get from our opposition can be seductive. We start to pander to a new group.

And then the cycle begins all over again when the rebel archetype finds herself resenting the expectations of her misfit comrades. She becomes fed up with playing by their rules. She is disenfranchised with their silly games. Soon the rebel rebels from the rebellion. It is the cyclical trap of this archetypal pattern.

The way to break free from this cycle is to come back to the wisdom that the rebellion is an inner upheaval. When treated as such, this process can foster immense, accelerated and profound self-growth. Soon you’ll be breaking into new creative potential you never imagined existed and you don’t have to give up your friends in the process.

Documentaries and movies about rebels: He Named Me Malala, Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom, The Divergent Series, The Hunger Games, Star Wars… and the list goes on.

Additional rebel archetype examples are: the bad boy (girl), the maverick, the outcast, the outsider, the anarchist, the troublemaker, the nonconformist, the weirdo, the freak, the free spirit, the hippie, the punk, the cowboy.

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